The Princess & the Rebel
by berry-cool
Summary: As Leia enjoys the triumph of the Death Star's destruction, she seeks those still injured in the medical bay... and meets the people that made all the difference. Part of the Rogue One: Encore series.


Leia knew she would like Jyn Erso the moment the two women met. Leia was sensitive to the people that were around her on the Rebellion base: many of them had grown up without a family, had seen death before they had even reached two figures in age, and that therefore by comparison Leia's life had been filled with luxury and hope that most of them couldn't afford to be thinking about.

She knew before she even met Jyn all that the other woman had suffered through. Leia always tried to find out as much as she could about everyone else, just to make sure she didn't hit any points of trauma. Leia remembers being introduced to Jyn just after the Death Star is destroyed, though it was very much a one-sided meeting, given that Jyn was being healed in the hospital at the time. Mon Mothma had quietly pointed her out as Galen Erso's daughter, had recounted the deeds of the Rogue One team, and ushered Leia on.

She had come back to the hospital several times after to check on the variety of patients that were there, and on her fifth visit she had wandered the wards to see Jyn sitting up in her bed. She had a food tray on her lap that looked untouched and she was looking at the bed next to her where Captain Cassian Andor lay. In her eyes there was more than just exhaustion, there was loss.

Leia had made a beeline for her, and Jyn had taken her time to look up.

"Hello," Leia said. "How are you feeling today? I'm Leia."

Jyn nodded.

"I'm alright," she said, her voice hollow. "Thank you for asking. I'm Jyn."

Leia took a seat near the bed as she heard voices out in the corridor whooping and cheering. Mothma had insisted that if there were to be celebrations they were going to be held in a few days time to ensure a proper clean up and debriefing had been undergone but also - and Leia was one of the few who knew this - because Mothma secretly hoped that a certain amount of party enthusiasm might be more well tempered with a little bit of time.

"I know," Leia said. "Thank you for those plans, I received them myself. We couldn't have possibly done any of it without you."

Those words seemed to revive something in Jyn's eyes, and she met Leia's gaze fully for the first time.

"You got the plans?" Galen Erso's daughter said. "You personally received them?"

Leia nodded.

"Thanks to you."

"Tell me about it," Jyn said to her, leaning forward. "I know about what you did, of course, but no one seems to want to offer me any details. Will you tell me?"

Leia knew the matron that ran the hospital would not want her patient's recovery disturbed, but as Leia thought about it she became more and more convinced that the tale was exactly what Jyn needed to hear.

So she stayed there in the hospital wing, telling Jyn the whole tale from start to finish, careful to keep her voice down so as not to disturb the whole ward. And Jyn's bright eyes took in the story hungrily, and Leia remembered being told something about Jyn seeing her mother killed at a young age, and she wondered how long it had been since Jyn had been sat in bed and had been told stories by someone that didn't want to use them to scare her.

"... and that's how it was done," said Leia, feeling that she had finished rather lamely after having told such an exciting tale. "All thanks to you."

She let Jyn deal with her tears silently and on her own terms. Her tears were her own, and they had been borne out of emotions Leia could not in that moment fathom. She would not encroach on them with meaningless sympathy. Jyn wiped her eyes on her sleeve and smiled. And Leia was pleased to see that it was a smile that reached her eyes.

The two had talked casually then, about their friends, Luke, Bodhi, Han, Kaytoo... and then Leia had been called away to a meeting and bade her new friend farewell. Before she left she stole a glance at the Captain that still lay by Jyn's side and saw how the woman kept checking up on him every few moments, keeping up a silent vigil even though she was barely better herself.

Leia managed to revisit the ward the afternoon of the following day, after she had greeted several other friends of hers along the way. As she rounded the corner to Jyn's ward, wondering what other stories she had in her memory that might seem to cheer up the young woman even half as much as her previous ones had, she saw something that made her smile

The young captain was talking. He wasn't sitting up in his bed, but she saw movement in his face, eyes wide and unfathomably alert, and watched as Jyn talked to him, making gestures with her hands that Leia couldn't quite decode.

After several moments of watching she walked towards both of them until Jyn noticed her approach and looked up.

"Leia!" Jyn said, her voice actually sounding cheerful. "It's so good to see you."

"I'm so glad to see you too," Leia responded sincerely. "And to see the captain awake -"

"Your story was what did it," Jyn interjected. "I just started telling it to him, last night when - I just thought he'd like to hear it. He woke up just as Luke was descending on the Death Star with the rest of Rogue Squadron."

Leia smiled, and sat on the edge of Jyn's bed.

"Well you're just in time Captain Andor," she said. "There will be a celebration for the victory tomorrow. With any luck you might be on your feet in time. Or we could - "

His hand waved about feebly.

"Thank you," he said. "For destroying that Death Star. For finishing what we started."

Leia shook her head as she glanced again at Jyn, who was looking at the captain with such fond tenderness that Leia wasn't sure if it was out of friendship or something else.

She had stayed to talk with them for some time before she left to get some dinner, and as she looked back at the two of them talking she smiled to herself. Light in the darkness, hope amongst despair.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Luke dashing down the hallway and remembered that she promised Jyn she would introduce her.

Leia turned swiftly to catch up, but not before casting one more glance at the two patients happily talking in the ward. They had smiles on their faces, eyes bright despite all the cuts and bruises that graced their skin.

Light in the darkness, hope amongst despair. And perhaps... love in war. Perhaps that still had a chance as well.


End file.
